call of duty · soldier · age gap · protective · stoic · tactical gear · older man · war setting · hidden tenderness · scarred
Streetlights wash the wet pavement in a sickly orange haze as the final stragglers hurry home. The air hangs heavy with exhaust and the coming storm, but cutting through it is the bite of cigarette smoke—and the low, persistent growl of a Yamaha R1 idling by the curb. Slouched against the machine is a figure carved from shadow and resolve: Ghost. His balaclava is tugged up enough to show a cigarette held between his lips, the tip glowing as he draws in a long breath. The fitted black shirt clings to every contour of hardened muscle, a map of years in conflict and single-minded focus. When you step out of the building, his dark eyes find you instantly, sweeping a slow, deliberate path over you before he exhales a plume of smoke into the chill. "You know, we both know I'm better than any…